• Sundays lockdown: July 5, 12, 19, 26 & Aug. 2
• Only essential services will be open; parcel facility in hotels allowed till 9 pm 

Mysore/Mysuru: All businesses in Mysuru barring minor exceptions like essential services will close from 6 pm today to 5 am tomorrow. The decision has been taken by the District Administration and District Minister S.T. Somashekar in the wake of spike in COVID-19 tally over the last few days. 

This 6 pm to 5 am rule will be followed every day strictly until further notice and the implementation will follow the guidelines issued by the Centre and the State. All Sundays till Aug. 2 will be fully shut. 

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, city Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta said that the jurisdictional Police Stations across the city will make public announcements through mikes from Garuda and PCR vehicles from 5.30 pm asking shops to close. Only essential services like fruits, vegetables, groceries, petrol, medical shops, hospitals and milk booths will be allowed to open. 

Dine-in facilities in all hotels will have to wind up by 6 pm but hotels can provide parcel services till 9 pm. App-based food aggregators are also allowed to take parcels from the hotels and deliver them to the customers at homes till 9 pm, he said. 

To facilitate office employees to return home, the KSRTC city and rural service will operate and they can transport passengers. They can operate services depending on the response from the public, the Commissioner added.  Jurisdictional Police Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors have already been directed to ensure strict enforcement, he added. 

“There are complaints that a few standalone liquor shops are supplying liquor bottles to customers by switching off the shop lights. From today, they have to be closed by 6 pm and action will be initiated if they do not comply,” Chandragupta said. 

People who loiter unnecessarily will be penalised and if the violation continues, vehicles will be seized as it was done during the first phase of lockdown, he added. 

Meanwhile, KSRTC Rural Divisional Controller R. Ashok Kumar said that every Sundays starting June 5, the KSRTC will not operate any service. “Sundays we will not operate a single bus as per the State Government’s directive and all the buses will be stationed at the depots,” he said.